Living and Working in Lübeck

3 min read

The architects Nicola Petereit and Jörg Haufe from Lübeck are continuing the ‘keep the old and integrate the new’ concept from their house and are breathing life into the former workshop building in the same way so as to convert it into their own office space. A long, narrow room of 75 sqm features the open wooden construction of the single-pitch roof and the hard contrast between dusty and old and shiny and new.

“Living spaces and work spaces have to be far enough away from each other that you need to put your shoes on to get from one to the other. You also need separate coffee machines and separate toilets. Otherwise, it’s like being a student again.”

Nicola Petereit, Jörg Haufe

The view in the inner courtyard of the former workshop building that the architects have converted into their own office location

Working as a team – the architects Nicola Petereit and Jörg Haufe

Directly connected to the house, a model making workshop was set up here on the ground floor and the new office space was created upstairs. The resulting green space between the house and the office forms the connecting element between the two buildings – an enclosed open space in the middle of the city. In this way, it was possible to combine living and working in the most charming manner. After all, the two architects have also learned how professional working methods can converge with the concept of private life.

“You entered the room and felt you had to wipe your eyes. As if you were surrounded by mist. We wanted to preserve this feeling.”

Keep the old and integrate the new: the view of the open construction of the single-pitch roof.

“This is the sort of thing you can only do for yourself – for other clients it would be unfeasible. That’s why we take it to the extreme.”

Once again, the products from the three brands FSB, Gira and KEUCO unite the commonality of the design in the office building. They speak a uniformly subtle, straight-lined design language, which means they can be easily combined with one another and assimilate themselves perfectly into the existing building and the structure of the interior surfaces.

“We were very consistent and again chose products from the three brands FSB, Gira and KEUCO. The shower room in particular was special as we wanted to use grey bathroom ceramics; everything here had to be implemented in the same shade of grey: walls, ceiling, bathroom fittings. Only the floorboards are wooden.”

FSB 1015, custom-made product as a lifting/sliding door handle. Material: natural aluminium

KEUCO IXMO in the shower

“The gray veil remains and was completed with new ingredients.”

KEUCO Edition 11 on washbasin, Gira switch programme E2 in matt-finished black

Over time and on their personal journeys, the two architects have discovered the beauty of decay and have thus been able to develop a different perspective when it comes to renovating existing buildings. “We developed a fascination for retaining the old and combining it with the new. But practising restraint and not being tempted to renovate everything is a difficult lesson to learn.” After all, over a hundred years of history have played out within the walls of old buildings; and these are stories that need to be continued and kept visible.